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When Problems Persist

In 1965, the Moynihan Report started a debate about inner-city family breakdown that continues to this day.

By

Vincent J. Cannato

Updated May 3, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

In March 1965, a young political appointee in the Labor Department named Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote a report warning of high levels of out-of-wedlock births in the black community. "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action," as the report was officially titled, noted that nearly a quarter of all black children were born out of wedlock, a ratio that had been rising since the end of World War II. Such a trend, Mr. Moynihan warned, could deepen black poverty rates and lead to a "tangle of...